FDA: Acetaminophen doses over 325 mg might lead to liver damage

I try and stay away from NSAID, plain old aspirin is my choice for a OTC pain reliever.

The people pounding meds like Vicodin for a high may be in for a surprise...
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CNN) -- You're in pain after surgery, and your doctor prescribes you Vicodin, or maybe Percocet. But when you get home, the pain hasn't subsided and you decide to pop some Extra Strength Tylenol.
Unknowingly, you may have just taken more of the drug acetaminophen than is safe.
Acetaminophen is often used in pain medications with opioids such as oxycodone (Percocet), hydrocodone (Vicodin) and codeine (Tylenol with Codeine). These are called combination drugs, and the Food and Drug Administration is asking doctors to stop prescribing those that have more than 325 mg of acetaminophen per dose.

"Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet."
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"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

There is NO MIGHT about it.... It has been happening a lot.... Hospital ERs have been seeing a LOT of Acetaminophen overdose Cases....
I only use Naprosen (Aleive) for Pain these days.... Aspirin messes with my Tummy.....

Bruce in alaska (BTPost) An Atheist will never be able to say, "I TOLD YOU SO"!! ....

Best for: Excellent for pain relief and fever reduction. Commonly used long-term for osteoarthritis, chronic back pain and headaches.

Side effects: Very few if taken as directed, which makes it our experts' first choice for over-the-counter (OTC) pain relievers. If not taken as directed, risk of liver failure.

Take this with: You do not need to take on a full stomach or with food/milk.

Alcohol warning: Anything that may be toxic to or interfere with liver function should be minimized or avoided when using Tylenol, alcohol specifically.

Who shouldn't take it: Be cautious if taking prescription medications that contain acetaminophen, such as Vicodin, Percocet and Lorcet, or nonprescription products like Midol Complete, Excedrin or Nyquil, because you can unintentionally overdose and cause liver damage or failure.

Kid warning: Use the child-specific product with children. Use dosing cup or dropper that comes with product; household teaspoons aren't uniform and you can overdose or underdose your child.

Warnings: You may take 4,000 milligrams daily up to 10 days for pain. Taking more puts you at risk for liver failure. "We see unintentional overdoses when people combine multiple products with acetaminophen, such as Nyquil and Tylenol," says Dr. Jan Engle, past president, American Pharmacists Association. If you're taking it long-term for chronic pain, consider having liver function tests done once or twice a year.

Ibuprofen

Brand names: Motrin, Advil

Best for: This nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) is effective for pain relief and fever reduction. It doesn't have much of an anti-inflammatory effect at the recommended dose. Popular for dental pain, menstrual cramps.Side effects: Most common side effect is stomach bleeding/ulcers, usually caused by long-term (three months or longer) use. Increased blood pressure, fluid retention and reduced kidney function are also concerns in long-term usage and short-term at higher doses.

Take this with: Take on a full stomach or with food/milk.

Alcohol warning: Do not take if you've consumed three or more drinks because alcohol is a stomach irritant and the combination can cause gastro-intestinal bleeding.

Who shouldn't take it: If you are older than 60, or if you take oral steroids or blood thinners. If you have ulcers, heartburn or congestive heart failure, talk to your doctor or pharmacist first before taking ibuprofen.

Kid warning: Ibuprofen is OK for children only in the kid form (drops, chewable tablets). Don't give adult ibuprofen to children. Use dosing cup or dropper that comes with product; household teaspoons aren't uniform and you might overdose or underdose.

Warnings: Do not mix with other pain relievers. Check with doctor or pharmacist for potential drug interactions. Do not take more than 10 days without consulting your physician.

Naproxen sodium

Brand name: Aleve

Best for: This long-acting, nonsteroidal, anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) is effective for pain relief and fever reduction. It doesn't have much of an anti-inflammatory effect at the recommended dose. Popular for menstrual cramps.

It is longer-acting than ibuprofen, so it needs to be taken less frequently.

Side effects: Same as ibuprofen. Most common side effect is stomach bleeding/ulcers, usually caused by long-term (three months or longer) use. Increased blood pressure, fluid retention and reduced kidney function are also concerns in long-term usage and short-term at higher doses.

Take this with: Take on a full stomach or with food/milk.

Alcohol warning: Do not take if you've consumed three or more drinks because alcohol is a stomach irritant and the combination can cause gastro-intestinal bleeding.

Who shouldn't take it: Children. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist before taking Naproxen if you are older than 60, take oral steroids or blood thinners, have ulcers, heartburn or congestive heart failure.

Kid warning: Do not give to children.

Warnings: Do not mix with other pain relievers. Check with your doctor or pharmacist for potential drug interactions. Do not take more than 10 days without consulting your physician.

"Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet."
-
"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

Oh well that is just effing wonderful. I can't take Naproxen or Ibuprofen OR Aspirin (which IS an NSAID, btw) because they trigger my asthma, so I take around 1500 mg of Acetaminophen a day for my back.

Hrm. Rot my liver or be able to stand upright. Weed is looking better every day.

Ibuprofen is what we take here when needed. And I have decided that FDA stands for Fully Doped Agency.

@ditch witch Do you take your 1500mg all at once or over the day? Because it seems to say no more than 325mg in one dose, not one day.

Last edited by a moderator: Jan 16, 2014

"Never get so lost in the quest to seek out evil that you become unable to seek out what is good."--Me
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"Only fools and profiteers ASK for war."--Xena
"So no more running. I aim to misbehave."--Captain Mal, SerenityMy Amazon Author Page

With sensible use, it's not dangerous. The key here is realizing that other products also have acetaminophen besides Tylenol. Is is easy to overdose.

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@ditch witch Do you take your 1500mg all at once or over the day? Because it seems to say no more than 325mg in one dose, not one day.

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In one dose. In rare instances I'll do that twice a day. That's actually LESS than the dr originally had me on. My old doc had me on free feed hydrocodone. I finally quit cold turkey, took months before my body remembered how to handle pain. I can suck it up and deal without it but it feels like someone is driving an icepick into my spine if I'm doing physical labor for more than a few hours. I stockpile acetaminophen like some people stock .22 ammo.

In one dose. In rare instances I'll do that twice a day. That's actually LESS than the dr originally had me on. My old doc had me on free feed hydrocodone. I finally quit cold turkey, took months before my body remembered how to handle pain. I can suck it up and deal without it but it feels like someone is driving an icepick into my spine if I'm doing physical labor for more than a few hours. I stockpile acetaminophen like some people stock .22 ammo.

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I live with that kind of pain too. I try never to let it stop me, but I do pay a price, after.

“Man’s mind is his basic tool of survival. Life is given to him, survival is not. His body is given to him, its sustenance is not. His mind is given to him, its content is not. To remain alive, he must act, and before he can act he must know the nature and purpose of his action. He cannot obtain his food without a knowledge of food and of the way to obtain it. He cannot dig a ditch-or build a cyclotron-without a knowledge of his aim and of the means to achieve it. To remain alive, he must think." John Galt (Ayn Rand)

Patents are not evil, profit is not a dirty word, providing for your family's future is not a sin, and what is mine is not your's just because you want it. Kellory.I have received NO secret government orders.(Watch for this notice to be removed)

My back issues stem from the nasty car accident we were in, July 2006. Went to a couple doctors since it was covered by the auto insurance, the first one pretty much ignored me(I think it was because it was the local doc and I was working at the cafe where another employee was a well-known pill popper). 2nd one said it was most likely some nerve damage that I would basically just have to live with, because of the location(far too dangerous to do surgery to fix it, basically akin to chopping your hand off because you've got a splinter in your finger...they didn't say that last bit, I'm analogy-izing on my own). I just have to be careful with how much I do. We have a long driveway(100-150ft) and I think it was last November, I carried a box of food down to the gate to give to somebody, didn't think it was that big of a deal, but my back was shot for a day and a half afterwards. That was a Friday, because I remember Saturday even resting in bed it wouldn't quit hurting, and the ibuprofen didn't help at all. Sunday it was still bothering me in the morning, but at least then the ibuprofen worked and the pain was mostly gone in the afternoon.

I only do ibuprofen for pain because when I had wisdom teeth issues(waited until the pain kept me up for 3 nights because I thought it would go away, usually did because toothaches had become a PMS symptom), I was prescribed vicodin/hydrocortone(sp?) mix, and after they pulled the 3 teeth(they pulled 2 wisdom teeth, but then on the right side the tooth next to the wisdom tooth got abscessed because of the infection, so had to go on antibiotics then have that tooth pulled too), I realized I was taking the pills when I didn't need to, so I stopped. Still kept them though, cause it's almost against our religion here to throw stuff away, and a year or two later when my back was acting up, I thought I would try one. I guess they went bad, because I got so sick from that pill. And for tooth issues now, I use cloves. Actually once I started using cloves for my teeth, the problems with them went way down, because they're antiseptic and anaesthetic.

"Never get so lost in the quest to seek out evil that you become unable to seek out what is good."--Me
"You know what the definition of a hero is? Someone who gets other people killed."--Zoe, Serenity
"Only fools and profiteers ASK for war."--Xena
"So no more running. I aim to misbehave."--Captain Mal, SerenityMy Amazon Author Page

I had an accident as a teenager that involved me sleeping on a tack trunk at a stock show and two boys in my FFA group, one of which was pushing 300 pounds, thinking it would be funny to take a few running steps and then jump up, turn, and land on me. Fat boy landed just over my kidneys. It was a few days before I could walk. I'm not entirely sure what the damage was since at the time my mother didn't believe in little things like surgery, or rehab, or even pain medication. If it wasn't for my Ag teacher rushing me to the ER, I'm not even sure I would have gotten that much medical treatment.

Ever since, there's been a spot to the right of my spine just below my kidney that if you press it just the slightest bit, I'll introduce you to swear words you never knew existed. I can be 100% pain free, but hit that spot and it's icepick in the spine time. Pain goes away the second the pressure does. I went to a doctor in my mid twenties and he said there were three vertebrae in that area that are twisted and slightly out of alignment, likely pinching a few nerves, plus calcification indicating two of them had probably been fractured.

The biggest problem is if the muscles back there get tensed up, from being cold or overworked, those nerves start to sing, and once things start to hurt it's just a nasty cycle of tightening muscles and screaming nerves. Muscle relaxers are the best but they knock me out and I can't spend my whole life sleeping 16 hours a day. That one doc had me gobbling pills like candy corns, 1 muscle relaxer 3 times a day, 1500 mg of hydrocodone twice a day, plus some anti-inflammatory I don't remember. That cocktail had me useless for anything more than a doorstop, and a drooling one at that.

Until they come up with a better alternative, I guess I'll be taking Liver Damage for $200.

Well our accident was hitting a HUGE cow that was taking up the whole 2lane country road. It was a black cow and the accident happened at night. We had just enough time to see the cow, not enough time to avoid hitting it. I thought the windshield was going to break so I got myself into a ball to avoid flying glass. And my right leg, when I've overdone myself, it starts thinking it's in that position again. After the accident before my back had a chance to recover as much as it was going to, I got so used to limping I do it more often than not now. It probably didn't help that I went to work the next day instead of going to doctor right away, but I was working at the cafe then and my income was what we were living off of pretty much, so I did that. Had to get a ride to work from my boss though, called her next morning and she at first was pissed I wasn't opening the cafe up like I usually do, until I told her what happened. She came to get me and saw our SUV(we had AAA tow it home), and I remember her having her hand over her mouth saying OH MY GOD constantly as she looked at the damage, and I think she hugged us.

"Never get so lost in the quest to seek out evil that you become unable to seek out what is good."--Me
"You know what the definition of a hero is? Someone who gets other people killed."--Zoe, Serenity
"Only fools and profiteers ASK for war."--Xena
"So no more running. I aim to misbehave."--Captain Mal, SerenityMy Amazon Author Page

Chronic Pain is something that many folks deal with every day. I had a Climbing Accident when I was in my late teens, that tore some of the
Sheet Muscles in my Lower Back, on my right side. When I over do lifting, while twisting, I aggravate that Old Injury, and it "Talks to me, Big Time". I keep an annual supply of Prescription Muscle Relaxers, (Flexoril) and Naprosin (Prescription Aleve) in our Medical Preps just for when this gets "Talking". If I don't deal with it early, it progresses to the point that the whole Muscle Group goes into Spasm, and I can't even walk. It usually takes a week, of treatment, to get back to normal, and after 4 decades I have learned to not mess around with it, PERIOD. .... The older I get, the more Pains, if feel, so I Prep, for those things as best I can. My SawBones is very good about writing the Scripts, to refill these, on a yearly Basis.

Bruce in alaska (BTPost) An Atheist will never be able to say, "I TOLD YOU SO"!! ....